Official Statistics

Vision profile statistical commentary: May 2024

Published 8 May 2024

Applies to England

What’s new

New data for hospital outpatients and procedures has been added for the financial year ending 2023 and data back to the financial year ending 2014 has been updated. The data for registered blind and partially sighted people for the financial year ending 2023 has been added to the vision profile.

The following indicators have been updated:

• vision outpatient attendances
• vision outpatient attendances (persons based)
• admissions to hospital for cataract surgery in people aged 65 years and over
• admissions to hospital for rhegmatogenous retinal detachment surgery in people aged 18 years and over
• intravitreal injection therapy procedures in people aged 60 years and over
• people aged 65 to 74 registered blind or partially sighted
• people aged 75 years and over registered blind or partially sighted

Introduction

The vision profile updates selected indicators developed for the 2021 Atlas of variation in risk factors and healthcare for vision in England. It gives local areas comparable indicators of risk factors, healthcare provision and outcomes for vision health to support commissioning and planning, and to identify unwarranted geographical variation.

Main findings

This update shows:

• in the financial year ending 2023, there were over 8.9 million vision outpatient attendances in England, with over 3.4 million individual people attending hospital outpatient appointments
• in the financial year ending 2023, the indicators for cataract surgery, rhegmatogenous retinal detachment surgery and intravitreal injection therapy procedures were significantly higher than in the previous financial year and the pre-pandemic financial year ending 2020
• in the financial year ending 2023, there were 29,215 people aged 65 to 74 and 155,960 people aged 75 and over registered with their local authority as blind or partially sighted

Detailed findings

Vision outpatient attendances

In the financial year ending 2023, there were over 8.9 million vision outpatient attendances in England, a rate of 15,362 (15,340 to 15,385) per 100,000 population. The England rate was significantly higher than the rate of 14,613 (14,590 to 14,635) in the previous financial year but was still below pre-pandemic levels.

Figure 1: vision outpatient attendance rates, directly standardised rate per 100,000 population, England, in the financial year ending 2014 to the financial year ending 2023

In the financial year ending in 2023, there was a 2.3-fold difference in vision outpatient attendance rates for the sub-integrated care boards (sub-ICBs) with the highest and lowest rate:

• NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria ICB - 00R had the highest rate 23,441 (22,921 to 23,965) per 100,000 population
• NHS North East and North Cumbria ICB - 01H had the lowest rate 10,222 (10,019 to 10,428) per 100,000 population

Vision outpatient attendances (persons based)

For diseases that affect vision it is common that a person might attend the hospital several times during the year. This indicator measures the number of people who attended outpatient appointments rather than the number of appointments.

In the financial year ending 2023, there were over 3.4 million people who attended hospital outpatient appointments for vision in England, a rate of 5,801 (5,795 to 5,807) per 100,000 population. The England rate was significantly higher than the rate of 5,442 (5,436 to 5,448) in the previous financial year but was still below pre-pandemic levels.

Figure 2: vision outpatient attendances (persons based) rates, directly standardised rate per 100,000 population by sub-ICB, England, in the financial year ending 2023

There was a 1.9-fold difference in outpatient attendances (persons based) directly standardised rates for vision between the highest and lowest sub-ICBs in England in the financial year ending 2023.

Admissions to hospital for cataract surgery in people aged 65 years and over

In the financial year ending 2023, there were over 516,073 admissions to hospital for cataract surgery in England, a rate of 4,679 (4,663 to 4,694) per 100,000 population. The England rate was significantly higher than the rate of 3,803 (3,789 to 3,816) in the previous financial year and the rate of 3,660 (3,647 to 3,674) in the pre-pandemic financial year ending 2020.

Figure 3: admissions to hospital for cataract surgery in people aged 65 years and over, directly standardised rate per 100,000 population, England, in the financial year ending 2014 to the financial year ending 2023

There was a 2.5-fold difference in admissions to hospital for cataract surgery in people aged 65 years and over for the sub-ICBs with the highest and lowest rate:

• NHS North East and North Cumbria ICB - 99C had the highest rate 7,470 (7,158 to 7,790) per 100,000 population
• NHS Sussex ICB - 97R had the lowest rate 2,970 (2,868 to 3,073) per 100,000 population

Admissions to hospital for rhegmatogenous retinal detachment surgery in people aged 18 years and over

In the financial year ending 2023, there were over 12,270 admissions to hospital for rhegmatogenous retinal detachment surgeries in England, a rate of 25.9 (25.4 to 26.5) per 100,000 population. The England rate was significantly higher than the rate of 23.4 (22.9 to 24.0) in the previous financial year and the rate of 23.5 (22.9 to 24.0) in the pre-pandemic financial year ending 2020.

Figure 4: admissions to hospital for rhegmatogenous retinal detachment surgery in people aged 18 years and over, directly standardised rate per 100,000 population by sub-ICB, England, in the financial year ending 2023

There was a 9.4-fold difference in admissions to hospital for rhegmatogenous retinal detachment surgery in people aged 18 years and over for the sub-ICBs with the highest and lowest rate:

• NHS Suffolk and North East Essex ICB - 06T had the highest rate 48.7 (38.5 to 60.2) per 100,000 population
• NHS Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland ICB - 03W had the lowest rate 5.2 (2.9 to 8.4) per 100,000 population

Intravitreal injection therapy procedures in people aged 60 years and over

In the financial year ending 2023, there were just under 750,000 intravitreal injection therapy procedures in England, a rate of 5,174 (5,146 to 5,201) per 100,000 population. The England rate was significantly higher than the rate of 4,796 (4,769 to 4,823) in the previous financial year and the rate of 4,411 (4,385 to 4,437) in the pre-pandemic financial year ending 2020.

Figure 5: intravitreal injection therapy procedures in people aged 60 years and over, per 100,000 population, England, in the financial year ending 2014 to the financial year ending 2023

There is wide variation in the rate of intravitreal injection therapy procedures across sub-ICBs in England. Some of the variation may be due to differences in coding by hospitals as there is no mandatory requirement for Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) outpatient episodes to be coded by diagnosis (ICD10) or by procedure (OPCS4).

People aged 65 to 74 registered blind or partially sighted

In the financial year ending 2023 there were 29,215 people aged 65 to 74 registered with their local authority as blind or partially sighted, a rate of 533 (527 to 539) per 100,000 population.

People aged 75 years and over registered blind or partially sighted

In the financial year ending 2023 there were 155,960 people aged 75 and over registered with their local authority as blind or partially sighted, a rate of 3,031 (3,015 to 3,046) per 100,000 population. The England rate was significantly lower than the rate of 3,471 (3,455 to 3,488) for the previous data collection period the financial year ending 2020.

Methodology

Registered blind or partially sighted indicators

Individuals who have received a certificate of vision impairment (CVI) can choose to be included in their local authority’s register of blind or partially sighted people. Registration is voluntary, however it is a precondition for the receipt of certain financial benefits. In England, aggregate data from these local registers is published every 3 years as national statistics by NHS England. Further details about the data source are available in the definitions section of the vision profile.

Revisions

Hospital outpatient and procedure indicators

This indicator is based on the number of patients registered at a general practitioner (GP) based on the sub-ICB responsible for the patients’ treatment. All values for the whole time series have been recalculated for the most recent configuration of sub-ICBs at time of publication. Values and counts may not match those previously produced as these will be based on the most recent GP practice to sub-ICB look-up.

Background and further information

All the hospital-based indicators from the 2021 Atlas of variation in risk factors and healthcare for vision in England have been updated and can be found in the accompanying datasheet. This includes the 5 HES indicators included in the profile alongside the 5 supporting HES indicators for outpatients, cataracts and intravitreal injections that have been similarly updated.

The profile contains, where available, data for sub-ICBs, upper-tier local authorities, lower-tier local authorities, former government office regions and England.

Further details about the profile methodology are available in the definitions section of the vision profile.

For queries relating to this document, please contact: healthcare.variation@dhsc.gov.uk.